The creation of districts by President Michael Sata is a clear indication that the PF is desperate to win the 2016 elections and has little to do with claims that it was creating jobs, says Heritage Party leader General Godfrey Miyanda.

And General Miyanda has charged that it was the first time since 1964 that Zambia was having a president who has not addressed citizens since assuming office.

The opposition leader was speaking when he featured on 5FM Radio on a programme dubbed ‘burning issues’ .

General Miyanda said it was not clear as to why President Sata had not yet appeared before the media to answer questions on several issues that Zambians want direction on.

He said President Sata was expected to tell the nation about the claims that there were two parallel OP structures and many other things that Zambians wanted a clarification on.

He said the President should have spoken to the citizens many times because he had been in office for almost two years now unlike appearing only when swearing in and firing people.

General Miyanda said the creation of districts by Mr Sata was done haphazardly because they were not budgeted for and that districts did not bring value to the coffers.

He warned that if the PF used the creating of districts as a basis for employment the country would be in trouble because there was no ocean to draw money from.

“All this is just a gimmick to make people vote for them because they would be convinced that they were given something. My honest assessment is that they are preparing for elections. The president is delimiting constituencies and perhaps wants the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to be forced to agree with what they want when that time comes.

“It is an expensive venture because infrastructure should be put in place and money to pay the people that were working in the created districts set aside but these things were not budgeted for. The Link Zambia was also not budgeted for because these announcements were made by the President before the budget.

“By so doing he puts the Minister of Finance under pressure and where will they get the money for the pronounced infrastructure?” he said.

Gen Miyanda further advised government that it should not react defensively when people point out some wrongs but should take their advice.

The opposition leader said that the heritage party was waiting for experts to release the actual statistics for jobs that had been created by the PF government because it was not clear whether the jobs that were being talked about were permanent or casual.